During Sakura-Con 2017 in Seattle, Yen Press announced a number of new acquisitions, sans release dates.

Among those acquisitions are a number of entries in the popular Sword Art Online franchise. Keiichi Shigusawa and artist Tadadi Tamori’s manga adaptation of Sword Art Online Alternative Gale Online follows a pint-sized new player in the MMORPG Gun Gale Online. In the manga adaptation of Sword Art Online Calibur by Reki Kawahari and artist Shii Kiya, Kirito and friends embark on a quest to find the fabled Excalibur. Sword Art Online Artworks collects the art of abec, the illustrator of the light novel series.

Yen will also release the following manga and light novels:

  • ACCA 13, art and story by Natsume Ono
  • Angel of Slaughter, story by Kudan Naduka and art by Nakoto Sanada
  • As Miss Beelzebub Likes, art and story by matoba
  • Graineliers, art and story by Rihito Takari
  • Laid-Back Camp?, art and story by Afro
  • The Monster Tamer Girls, art and story by Mujirushi Shimazaki 
  • A Polar Bear in Love, art and story by Koromo
  • One Week Friends, art and story by Matcha Hazuki 
  • Regarding Reincarnating As Slime (light novel), story by Fuse and illustrations by Mitz Vah
  • The Saga of Evil Tanya, story by Carlo Zen and art by Chika Tojo
  • The Saga of Evil Tanya (light novel), story by Carlo Zen and illustrations by Shinobu Shinotsuki
  • So I’m a Spider, So What? (light novel), story by Okina Baba and illustrations by Asahiro Kakashi 
  • Terrified Teacher at Ghoul School, art and story by Mai Tanaka
  • Though You May Burn to Ash, art and story by Kakashi Oniyazu
  • Val X Love, art and story by Ryousuke Asakura

Sword Art Online began as a Japanese light novel series written by Reki Kawahara and illustrated by abec. The franchise has inspired manga, games, and more. Yen Press has been releasing the light novels and manga in the U.S., where the latter have been bestsellers (see “Top 10 Manga Franchises--Spring 2016”). The Sword Art Online the Movie: Ordinal Scale anime was released in U.S. theaters in March (see “High-Profile Anime Invading U.S. Theaters”), and the franchise has been optioned for a live-action TV show (see “'Sword Art Online' Optioned for Live-Action TV Series”).

Yen Press already has a number of releases lined up for this fall, including entries in the Re:Zero and Sword Oratoria franchises (see “'re: Zero,' 'Sword Oratoria,' 'Hybrid X Heart,' 'Gabriel Dropout'”).